Various forms of emission reduction devices heretofore have been provided to decrease emissions operation of existing internal combustion engines or combustion processes utilizing liquid or gaseous fuels However, most of these previously known forms of emission reduction devices either provide treatment of combustion by-products in the exhaust system such as the use of catalytic converters or by re-burning of a portion of the exhaust gases emitted Accordingly, a need exists for a simplified form of emission reduction device capable of processing engine fuel prior to combustion in the associated combustion engine or combustion chamber.
Examples of previously known forms of emission reduction devices of this type, including some of the general structural and operational features of the instant invention, are unknown to the applicant, however similar structural features to the instant invention are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,429, a fuel heater patented by Morgan P. Reed, one of the applicants herein.
The instant invention is different from the fuel heater, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,422,329 filed May 17, 1982, granted Dec. 27, 1983 and other U.S. Pat. Document references cited therein. Other references cited are as follows:
______________________________________ References Cited U.S. Pat. DOCUMENTS Document No: Date: Name: Class: Sub-Class: ______________________________________ A. 4,422,429 12/27/83 Reed 123 557 B. 4,594,991 6/17/86 Harvey 123 557 C. 4,368,716 1/18/83 Davis 123 557 D. 4,883,040 11/28/89 Rocky 123 557 E. 4,442,819 4/17/84 Veach 123 557 F. 4,611,567 9/16/86 Covey 123 557 G. 4,846,137 7/11/89 Ray 123 557 H. 4,926,830 5/22/90 McNelley 123 557 ______________________________________